RIP Chester Bennington

I am not the kind of person who gets affected by deaths of celebrities, or so I thought.


While on the way back to the hostel after a long tiring day on 20th July, the only thing I wanted was my bed but that looked like a distant dream because of the workload that was piled up. Nevertheless, I was happy I would at least be in close vicinity of my bed. All these happy floating thoughts were brought to the ground with a jolt when the dormant and mostly ignored BBC News app came up with this headline:


I literally went numb. I stopped talking and refused to believe this. I will be honest, I have not been listening to Linkin Park off late but this news was heart breaking. Linkin Park was the band which got me to take interest in English music. Though I had not been following them religiously they have always had (and will have) a special place when it comes to music. Chester Bennington gave voice to all the songs which echo with teenagers across boundaries. His voice has been a solace to so many of us, in our fight to find ourselves and make sense of what is going on in those crucial years.

When the news came about the suicide is because of depression, I don’t think anything else can be more saddening than the fact that the guy whose voice helped so many to not fall into the deadly trap that depression is, finally gave in to the same demons. I have been listening back to all the Linkin Park songs over the past week starting from ‘Leave out all the rest’ to ‘Numb’ to ‘What I've done’ and ‘In the end’ (and numerous others) probably like all the fans have. Each and every song lyric now have an increased impact. The same lyrics I used to hum and sing along with Chester (and am still doing) suddenly mean a great deal more.  

I believe that the decision to end one’s life is the worst decision that can be taken on this planet. This belief applies in this case too. But I certainly hope that wherever he is, he is in a better place now.

In the end, it did matter. You did matter.

RIP Chester.

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